Church History

Advanced Level Certificate

Course Benefits:
The Advanced Level Church History track is designed to provide the student with a thorough knowledge of the history of the Christian Church from the first century to the present.

Course Description:
The Advanced Level track consists of thirty-one courses that can be completed in a three-year period. Although students may take longer to complete the courses if they wish, the courses are designed so that the student may earn the Certificate in three years.

After registration, the student will be assigned a tutor to answer questions that may arise from the required reading and who will evaluate the student's coursework. An online forum will also be provided. The forum will provide a place for students in the Advanced Level Church History track to submit questions to the tutor and to discuss course related issues with other students registered for the same track.

Course Requirements:
Each of the thirty-one courses in the Advanced Level Church History track requires a large amount of reading. In order to benefit from the reading, the student is required to keep a reading journal, which is to be submitted to the tutor after completing the final course. The reading journal must be typed. For each required text, the student is to include the following information:

1. State the author and title of the book.

2. In no less than 25 and no more than 50 words, state what the book is about. In other words, what is the subject matter of the book, and how does the author present the material?

3. In no less than 300 and no more than 350 words, summarize how the book has contributed to your knowledge of church history. What were the major events covered? Who were the major antagonists discussed? Were any important theological issues discussed?

4. In no less than 125 and no more than 150 words, state whether you think the author accurately and adequately handled the historical evidence. If the work is a primary source, state whether the author's views were well argued.

5. In no less than 25 and no more than 50 words, state what difference reading this book has made in your life.

In addition to the reading journal, the student is required to write and submit one research paper after completing the final course. The student may choose any subject covered in one or more of the required courses. The paper should be no less than 4,000 and no more than 5,000 words.

The research paper should adhere to the format outlined in Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (7th edition).

Students may also find the following work useful in the preparation of the research paper:  Robert Hudson, ed. The Christian Writer's Manual of Style (updated and expanded edition).

Required Courses:
1. The Meaning of History
2. The Apostolic Age
3. The Apostolic Fathers
4. The Persecution and Defense of Christianity
5. Early Heresies
6. The Development of the Old Catholic Church
7. Second and Third Century Theologians
8. Constantine and the Victory of Christianity
9. The Arian Controversy and the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople
10. Christological Controversies and the Council of Chalcedon
11. Great Church Fathers
12. The Beginnings of Monasticism
13. Political Disruption and Papal Power
14. Developments in the West and East
15. Papal Supremacy
16. The Crusades
17. Scholasticism
18. Thomas Aquinas
19. Forerunners of the Reformation
20. Europe and the Roman Church on the Eve of the Reformation
21. Luther and the Lutherans
22. Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation
23. John Calvin
24. The English Reformation
25. The Radical Reformation
26. The Counter Reformation
27. Seventeenth Century England
28. The Enlightenment
29. The Church in America
30. The Nineteenth Century
31. The Twentieth Century

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